PC Simon Harwood, Killer Of Innocent Ian Tomlinson Acquitted!

In a decision that disgraces the British judicial system and will reverberate through our society with deeply destructive consequences, the brutal police killer of a sick old man has been set free.

Harwood killed Ian Tomlinson during the G20 protest in London in April 2009. In an entirely unprovoked and unjustifiable attack he struck Tomlinson from behind with his baton and then pushed him viciously to the ground. Tomlinson died moments later from internal bleeding.

Ian Tomlinson with Harwood behind him about to deliver the fatal blow.

This decision, although apparently taken by a jury, is unbelievable and must call into question the whole trial. Millions saw Harwood’s brutality with their own eyes on video recordings of the incident and simply will not accept this perversion of justice. Harwood has a history of violence and corruption and he must be brought to justice.

This will further damage the reputation of the police and increase the ever-widening gap between law enforcement and the public.

My deepest sympathy goes to Ian Tomlinson’s family who have suffered enough only to have this further abuse foisted upon them. This is not over yet.

13 Responses

Those that found dead while in police custody
never comes to the attention of the media / it
there’s a complete blackout of any reportings.

Those beaten while in police custody where
restraining prisoner ( be a cover for assault
of the most appalling acts of “cruel brutality”.

Police protect police thus the killing beatings
the violence contines behind closed doors..
that the violence seen as in the present case
of disscussion in being the tip of the iceberg.

The police force is a magnet for psychopathes
where they can freely carry out / appalling acts
of volence against very the most vulnerable…
many of those whom holding top positions are
psychopathes / whom but protect those whom
being also of the same very sick state of mind.

Peter – I suggested on here over a year ago that this would be exactly what would happen.
I think the public clamouring for a charge of manslaughter for Harwood was unhelpful, when there was never going to be enough evidence to a sufficient standard of proof to convict him of that.

He clearly assaulted Tomlinson and should have been charged accordingly, however unsatisfactory that may be.

My understanding is that Harwood has no previous criminal convictions for assaults against the person, and so no ‘bad character’ evidence was available to be heard. You can’t just tell the jury about a load of unsubstantiated allegations just because you don’t like the bloke.

We should remember that the presumption of innocence and right to a fair trial are the basic fundamental pillars of the legal system in this country.

I don’t think the premeditated, calculated attack that he carried out has been understood. If you look at the video you can see that he struck IT to the leg to unbalance him and then he pushed him, clearly intending him to go to the floor. He intended to cause him harm and his force was unreasonable and unwarranted. I think he was lucky to face a manslaughter charge. Others, both in Britain and in other countries would have been charged with murder.

All we can hope for is that the public misconduct hearing will humiliate him even further and cast him into disgrace that will deter other psychopath coppers.

I regret though that this will have grave consequences for the rule of law. I’m a supporter of the police and I think this verdict is immensely damaging to them and their future capability.

The abuse as brutality the killing by the police having gone on
through the decades / as will continue / many thousands have
been killed while in police custody where no police be brought
to account ( if in rare circumstances any police are brought to
account then the judgement upon them is forgiving to extreme.

Will the case in question change police behavour / no t’will not.

The most sickning sight one can be unfortunate to witness is
the sheer pleasure on the face of psychopaths as the police
when having a victim in their hands abled in carrying out the
most brutal acts of violence / against very vulnerable people.

In main this done under the cover of restraining a individual.

Of course not all police officers so sick of mind / yet the sad
fact /many police officers are indeed sick minded individuals.

We have a long standing legal process in this country and the jury in the case found Harwood not guilty after seeing all the evidence – something you clearly haven’t had access to. To then go on and call someone a killer is shameful and libellous.

On the wider subject, we need to make up our minds how we want Britain policed. People talk about Harwood’s “excessive force” while an independent report on the August riots say policing should have been “more robust”. These guys really can’t win can they.

There hasn’t been an epidemic of police brutality in this country, there are just more and more people who don’t like being policed (unless of course they’re having their front door kicked in by some axe murderer then they want coppers there pronto). Unless we stop sitting in the comfort of our armchairs dissecting every little thing they do and pontificating about how excessive we feel it is the more disorder will prevail, and right now that blue line is already thin. The use of a baton can never be considered unlawful if it’s administered as per training. We give our police officers batons and empower them to use them not just in self defence but also to facilitate compliance. We don’t require them to check the medical history of the intended recipient of a baton strike (that would be ridiculous) and under normal circumstances this kind of whack to the the back of the legs and shoving is commonplace and is what they are trained to do. The argument about if this was ‘reasonable and necessary’ is totally separate and should be a matter for an internal police disciplinary hearing not a criminal court. At the end of the day even if we all agree a baton strike was necessary, Tomlinson would presumably still have died so the nub of this case isn’t so much about reasonableness but the use of batons – period. If Harwood had been found guilty I really can’t imagine how a copper can ever use a baton again because even if it’s used against an axe wielding maniac there is still this chance that maniac could have a non-obvious medical condition which could turn a legitimate baton strike fatal.

You’re obviously not paying attention. About 1500 deaths following police contact and not a single conviction for manslaughter?

We give our police officers batons and empower them to use them not just in self defence but also to facilitate compliance.

And with that comes responsibility. They have the training. They are given these powers on trust. Harwood has betrayed this trust Above and beyond his crime of causing death is a breach of trust for which his punishment should be severe.